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The Jackal's Share (2013)

by Christopher Morgan Jones(Favorite Author)

3.35 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1594205353 (ISBN13: 9781594205354)

languge

English

genre

Poetry

publisher

Penguin Press HC, The

series

Ben Webster

review 1: Meh. The Iranian trappings of this thriller initially intrigued me, but there was such a sameness and lack of sparkle to so many of the incidents that the overall dramatic arc was less than thrilling, feeling more like a theme and variations spun out to fill space than inevitable escalations to a climax. Also, I'm not convinced that trying to humanize the protagonists of spy thrillers by portraying them as torn between work and family is a sound strategy; their agonizing over the "personal dilemma" (aka, no-brainer) that their families get fed up with them for endangering said families by taking on dangerous jobs for less-than-compelling reasons often has the effect of making them seem as thick as they are selfish.
review 2: This is the second novel featuring... more Ben Webster, corporate spy extraordinaire. If you haven't read the first book - The Silent Oligarch, I think it's called here in the States - be sure to read it before this one. CMJ is one hell of a writer and knows how to pace a good cerebral mystery/thriller. This time his protagonist (Webster who is recovering from the events of the first book in the series) is looking into a wealthy Anglo-Iranian financier whose family fled after the Shah fell. Webster is like Cassandra - he is the only one who believes the financier is a fraud. He just doesn't have the proof yet. Too bad the financier and his client are one in the same. There is a point where I am not sure why Webster would put everything he holds dear at risk to prove himself right (other than to drive the plot) but that was a momentary huh? moment for me amid many, many pages of pleasurable and sometimes nailbiting reading. less

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